Rykan
Rykan Indossa, son of Aidan Indossa and Mindira Tutille, Grima of the Empress, hunter, murderer, cursed. Mindira Tutille was a witch of the highest regard who used her knowledge and ability to heal the sick and mend the wounded -- she brought good fortune upon her neighbors and traveled hundreds of miles when her services were needed. She was celebrated in the small towns and known throughout several kingdoms for her quick wit and big heart. She was as sharp-tongued as she was quick with a wink, and everyone loved her for it -- but her heart belonged to a scruffy young rogue with a quiet smile and adventurous eyes. They had only just begun to travel together when Lamb's Hollow, the town Mindira had been summoned to, was found to be empty of all but corpses scattered rotting in the streets. Mindira walked ahead, searching for any signs of breath, and turned around just in time to see a demon so efficiently snap the neck of her beloved Aidan and drop him, crumpled, to the ground. It spoke, while she stood shocked and horrified, and it told her that all she had to do was perform a simple spell, and her lover would be revived. Stunned and lost in despair, she agreed. When the spell was complete, the corpses throughout the town -- men, women, tiny children -- burst aflame as sacrifice to the cause, and the air filled with the stench of burning flesh. White smoke billowed into the sky, and a feeling of dread blanketed the countryside, and a chill like the bite of winter wind -- and then, the corpses burned to ash and the smoke dissipated into the clouds, the sun shone, and Aidan opened his eyes, never knowing what had happened. She never did tell him. After that, Mindira progressively grew listless and empty, so that Aidan worried and she snapped at him for his effort. Her angry moods were only multiplied by her growing belly, and by the time the child was born Aidan only remained near her so that he might be sure their son -- Rykan, a name they'd chosen long before the pregnancy -- was safe. But the moment he saw the teeth, the claws, the piercing yellow eyes and the beastly horns, he turned his back on them both and was never seen again. Mindira barely acknowledged the grotesque child, and left the child-rearing to her servants, who fussed continually over the child. They were so afraid of the superstitious implications of his existence -- and of his sharpened claws and teeth -- that they doted on Rykan and made sure he was well-pampered, satiated and content. He was quick to learn that he could send an adult scurrying with a simple word, and he very early took sadistic pleasure in the frightful obedience in their eyes. Rykan was six -- having been kept mostly within the house and away from other children -- when the traveling carnival rolled into town. Mindira got up from her chair for the first time in weeks -- usually corpselike in her unwillingness to communicate with the world -- and to her son's great joy took his hand and led him into the festivities herself. Hours later, she emerged alone. DRAGON BOY read the banners splashed across the tent, inviting paying customers to come in and witness the curious and frightening spawn of human and beast. At first, Rykan refused to perform, preferring to fight his keepers and grapple with their hot pokers until they were obliged to knock him over the head. The carnival often echoed with the screams of the child, roaring like an animal for food, for water, for a pillow or a blanket or to simply be let out for his legs were hurting. He tried with all his might to scare the carnies into doing his bidding, but the more he snarled the deeper they stabbed him with hot iron. Eventually he was forced to comply, quietly seething at night and taking out his frustrations on the customers during the day by swiping through the bars and trying to squeeze through to get at those stupid dumbstruck faces. After a few cases of screaming children and horrified parents and one woman who fainted, the keepers started stabbing him not to perform, but to tone down his antics so he wouldn't actually scare away the customers. Well, that. That was just the last straw. Instead of making demands, now, he seethed quietly in his cage, written off as wild by most of the carnies. He needed to give them a reason to fear him like they were supposed to. He'd make them all pay for what they'd done, and they would all bow, shaking, at his feet. "Let me out or I'll rip your face off!", barked at the fire-breather's son, only made the kid wet his pants. Similar promises to devour entrails and slash throats got him a whole lot of being ignored and a few stabs with the hot poker. He got in a screaming match with the bearded lady, which she won, and she left him shaking in rage. Finally, Rykan started slinging accusations and rumors, telling customers that the carnies were stealing money, pointing out the cheap tricks in the illusions, accusing the fire-eater of sleeping with the snake dancer, sending them all into as much chaos and rage as his little head could muster. The beatings were worth it, for now the entire carnival hated the little brat, and even though they weren't heeding his every whim they jumped when he spoke, and that was satisfying enough. So when times grew tough, pocketbooks grew tighter and there wasn't enough food to go around, the carnies had finally had enough of the headache. The strong man volunteered one night to open the dragon boy's room-sized cage for the first time in four years. He scowled at the demonic kid, demanded on behalf of the carnival that he leave and never return, and, when there was no movement or response aside from a deadly glare, stormed back into his own tent. There was an open door, and beyond it was freedom. Wilderness. Solitude. He had never been alone, and the very idea that the carnies he hated so much wanted to simply leave him here completely terrified him. To his young mind, there was only one solution: he would make certain that they never left this place either. The boy bolted out of the cage and wreaked as much havoc as he could get his claws into. He ripped giant gashes in the canvas tents, smashed the pipes of the water heater, let the horses loose and scared the chickens and the dogs into a frenzy. Anytime a carnie stood in his way, he leaped with the most hideous of roars, teeth and claws flashing, and finally -- finally -- he saw that fear he had spent years searching for. He easily dodged their weapons, clambered like a monkey up poles and along ropes and wires, until everyone stood together in a panic, unable to see him but knowing he was there. When the dancing tent went up in devouring flames, Rykan discovered he had a new talent. Finally, the carnies broke out the slingshots and crossbows, and he knew he wouldn't make it out of here alive if he kept it up much longer. He thought he remembered a town they had passed through not long before, and ran like the wind down the road they had just come through, certain it wouldn't be long before he found new people to take him in, leaving the caravan burning and tattered behind him. Three days later, he knew he was lost. He got his food and supplies by raiding passersby on the road, frightening them into running away or giving him whatever he wanted, and then he would run off. It was four months before a dark carriage led by metal golems passed by the tree he was staying in for the night, and he pounced upon it in hopes of new clothes. Men in dark clothes wearing fearsome bronze masks stopped Rykan where he sat, and for the first time he was afraid of another person. He couldn't read their expressions, couldn't imagine scaring them, felt pitiful and ridiculous in his actions while they were watching. For a moment he was nothing more than a timid mouse -- and then, more than anything, he wanted to possess that horrifying power. He tried to snatch away their masks while they grabbed for him and swiped with their swords, while someone muffled inside the carriage squealed "Catch it! I will have it!" Rykan did manage to pry a mask away, and the shocked and frightened face beneath gave him such a triumphant thrill that he put the mask on his own face and stood atop the carriage so he could stand taller than any of them, roaring at them in a hoarse, snarling voice so that they might quail at his feet. And then the roof of the carriage split under his weight, and he fell right into the seat across from the young Empress herself, and sunlight streamed in upon them through the gash in the leather. When he had gathered his wits, Rykan stood up on the bench and roared at her from behind the mask, but she didn't flinch. She watched him with narrowed eyes, and smiled ever so slightly. "Hello, little monster," she greeted him coolly, and she tipped her head in his stunned silence. "You will be my new guardian." Once Rykan had got over the initial shock, he puffed out his chest and immediately accepted his new role in protecting this frail lady, starting with "protecting" her from the masked men. The battles that ensued only served to amuse the Empress, and she encouraged his rabid ego. He took his new name, Drakinn, gladly, happy to be rid of the past full of people who obviously hadn't realized his potential, and he received his very own mask full of power and pride. He served happily for years afterward, giving little thought to the people who suffered under the Empress' cruel hand, bullying anyone and everyone wherever he got the chance. But when the Empress began to have stranger visions and her words didn't flow quite as well as they used to, trouble stirred among the Grima. They all hated Rykan, after all he'd put them through, and now that the Empress couldn't come to his aid they gathered against him. They tore off his mask, beat him among themselves, made a spectacle of his petty and foundless roaring in the town square, then threw him down a well and tossed down with him, in mockery, his beloved mask and his uniform to be buried in the muck at his feet. And they left, satisfied, considering him gone from their lives once and for all. He seethed there for three days, alternately sorry for himself and angry beyond comprehension at the betrayal. At once he knew he had to regain his status, once again lord over them, and force each of them to scrape the dirt from the stables and eat it lest he get angry. He would have to please the Empress so much that she would promote him to Grand Advisor, so he could rule over them all and watch even the haughtiest of men look at him and tremble. Rykan crawled out of the mud, put on his uniform and his mask, and clawed his way out of the well. He would be the one to find the pages of the Grimmalibrus, and he would present the book to the Empress, who would be so overjoyed and impressed at his aptitude that she could do nothing else but acknowledge his worth. So, with visions of what power would be bestowed upon him, he set off down the road, with every intention of returning as a lord.